Man Pleads Guilty to Robberies

Geoffrey Logan Rogers and partner to be sentenced this summer.

The Kentucky man accused of robbing two Loudoun banks last year pleaded guilty in Loudoun Circuit Court, Friday, April 13, rather than stand trial as was scheduled.

Geoffrey Logan Rogers, 42, will come before Judge James H. Chamblin, May 29 for sentencing.

Under the state sentencing guidelines Rogers faces between five years to life in prison for his involvement in the crime. Rogers' partner, Ronald Michael Young, 35, was found guilty by a jury Feb. 8. The jury recommended Young serve 40 years for robbery and conspiracy to commit a felony for the robberies of banks in Ashburn and Sterling that occurred only hours apart last year.

ROGERS AND YOUNG, who is from Manassas, were charged with a series of robberies in Loudoun and Fairfax counties beginning in Fairfax on March 17, 2006. The two Loudoun robberies, at the BB&T bank in Ashburn's Junction Plaza and the Provident bank in Sterling's Commonwealth Plaza, were the last of five robberies the pair is accused of committing.

April 6, a Fairfax County judge sentenced Rogers to 24 years in prison for the Fairfax robberies. Young was scheduled to stand trial in Fairfax County last week.

According to the Sheriff's Office, Rogers entered the banks while Young waited outside in the car the two used to get away. While Rogers did not brandish a firearm during the robberies, in at least one of the banks he indicated that he was carrying one.

Rogers stole close to $5,000 from the Ashburn bank and $1,905 from the Sterling bank, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Sean Morgan, who is prosecuting both cases, said.

IN MARCH, Chamblin granted Rogers' attorney, Loudoun public defender Bonnie Hoffman's motion to suppress Rogers' possessions that were given to investigators by Young's wife.

"There has been no argument about the significance of the fact that Mrs. Young voluntarily turned them over to police," Chamblin said last month. "She knew why the police were there; she knew they were looking for Mr. Rogers."

Rogers had been staying at the Young's apartment, but Chamblin said that did not mean Rogers' had lost his right to privacy.

"It doesn't rise to the belief that Mr. and Mrs. Young had the right to hand over Mr. Rogers' bags," he said.

However, Rogers' plea does not appear to have stemmed from any changes in the case.

Commonwealth's Attorney James Plowman said the decision to change his plea to guilty was made solely by Rogers and his attorney.

"There was no sentence recommendation from us," he said. "There was no plea agreement from us."

In March, Chamblin postponed sentencing Young in order to learn the outcome of Rogers' trial, which would have begun April 23. Young is now set to be sentenced in June.